


Ecce Homo

by schwertlilie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Christianity, Gen, Historical, Judaism, Kink Meme, Religions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-23
Updated: 2010-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:29:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schwertlilie/pseuds/schwertlilie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rome and Judaea watch Jesus' crucifixion. Two thousand years later, Romano remembers his grandfather and is late for Mass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ecce Homo

Rome yawned, and instantly regretted it. He'd seen his share of executions, of crucifixions, and there were really only so many ways to hang someone from a pole. He'd simply forgotten how much they stank.

The suspended man on the left voided his bowels, but it was lost in the smell of rotting corpses.

"'Do something interesting,' the Prefect said," he muttered to the woman standing beside him. "'Go see your justice in action,' he said."

Judaea thinned her lips. "He forgets, sometimes, that we are more than our governments."

"Yeah." He squinted at the men's faces, pointed. "Hey, weren't you keeping an eye on that one?"

"Mm."

"A waste. He's got smarts, charisma, balls..." Rome scratched his stubble. "Would'a made a good official. Pity he had to come here for Passover - if he'd stayed in the country he could've avoided all this, like the rest of your wandering prophets."

Her voice was almost lost beneath the sound of dice cups. "He wanted to make the prophecies come true. The old ones."

"Huh. Did he?"

"We'll see."

The wind shifted - away from them, thankfully - and he rolled his shoulders. "Could'a done without all that 'Kingdom of God' stuff, though. Criticise my government, sure. Talk about overthrowing it, not so much." He turned, slid an arm around her waist. "I think we've seen all there is to see here. Wanna go get a drink?"

She ducked away from his hand. "No, thank you." With a twitch of her skirt she was gone, walking back toward her city.

You win some, you lose some. He shrugged, and started toward the road. He'd been invited to a villa outside Jerusalem, and if he was early he could swing a bath before dinner.

~ ~ ~

Romano had tied his tie a thousand times before, so why wouldn't it work today? He frowned at the mirror, winding the silk around itself and into another failed knot. This shouldn't be important. But they were going to be late for Mass, because of a stupid tie, and that _was_ important. _Mother of-_

He caught sight of his expression, and froze.

"Romano!" Spain called from the doorway, cursedly cheerful. "Everything all right?"

"I need a new tie."

"Oh?" He squeezed himself into the space between Romano and the mirror, pulled the knot apart. "There's nothing wrong with this one."

"Course there is."

"Nooo..." His fingers went to work. "What's really bothering you? I won't stop bothering you until you tell me..."

He pouted. But the bastard was right, he wouldn't give Romano a moment's peace. "For a second, I looked like Grandfather."

"Isn't that a good thing?" He pulled the new knot tight.

"Not this look. When me and Feliciano were really little he dragged us along to some council of bishops, made us listen while they argued about whether Christ was human or not. And Grandfather got this expression..." He glanced at the clock, slapped Spain's hands away from his collar. "Late! Stupid Spain, making me talk about things and making us _late_ for _Mass_." He spun around and stomped out of the room.

He didn't thank Spain when he caught up to Romano, handed him his suit jacket.

But he did let Spain sit beside him in the pew, which was close enough.

**Author's Note:**

> The first century CE was full of wandering preachers, miracle men, and apocalyptic teachers. (Ever seen Life of Brian? The scene where [Brian is preaching in the marketplace](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf76lynPdZc)? Yeah.) Judaism at the time was really, _really_ diverse; and Jesus wasn't the only potential messiah walking around (see [a quick list of messiah claimants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah_claimants)). I figure Judaea would have kept her eye on all of them.
> 
> The council Romano talks about is the [First Council of Nicaea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea), 325 CE, which (among other things) argued about just how divine Jesus was and his relationship to God, and created the Nicene Creed.
> 
> I tried to stay neutral on the question of the "truth" of either of the religions mentioned, but if I crossed a line or you have a question, please let me know! Feel free to interpret this story as you like - it's intentionally inkblot-like. :)


End file.
